UN group on missing to visit Sri Lanka in November

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances will visit Sri Lanka from from November 9 to 18. The announcement was made at the UN Human Rights Council which is meeting for its 30th session in Geneva.

“We are very happy to announce the confirmation of our visit to Sri Lanka from 9 to 18 November”, The Working Group said. 

The Working Group was established by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980 to assist families in determining the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives. It endeavours to establish a channel of communication between the families and the Governments concerned, to ensure that individual cases are investigated, with the objective of clarifying the whereabouts of persons who, having disappeared, are placed outside the protection of the law. 

In view of the Working Group’s humanitarian mandate, clarification occurs when the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person are clearly established. The Working Group continues to address cases of disappearances until they are resolved. It also provides assistance in the implementation by States of the United Nations Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.